Planning Part 1: Establishing tone

Before I went to the store to look for building materials, or started sketching out ideas I thought about why do I want an English pub? What is it about the design that attracts me? Essentially, why am I building this? When I built the original pub, there were very few resources on the internet, back in 2000 I was still working on a computer with a 56k dial up modem. Broadband was a luxury item. So I did my best the old fashioned way, working with my local librarian to find books and working through my own memories of the pubs I had visited when I was in London in 1998. Today, resources are plentiful and although I haven't returned to England since 1998 and haven't been in Ireland since 2008, I had the world at my fingertips through my good friend Google.

The first thing I did was to search the internet for ideas on what would work in the english style. If you look up basement bar, you get a wide variety of pretty crappy homemade sports bars.


or even high end modern bars.


That was not what I was looking for. I wanted to transform the area, to give the room the magic that lets you escape, with the feeling of cozy comfort I had felt when I had visited pubs in England and Ireland. Here are some of the things I found closer to what I'm identifying with on a refined search:



The first picture in particular is appealing, the second is more rustic. I found a great resource in a company that specializes in building home English pubs at englishbars.com. They make great looking and probably high quality bars, but alas, I am not a rich man. I do have two hands and a working knowledge of woodworking and construction.

Next blog post: Confronting Cost, the budget and the wife...

It all started in the year of our Lord, 2000...

In 2000, I became a father.  My intentions were admirable, to turn away from the debaucherous lifestyle of my past and endeavor to become a moderate man of moderate means. I had recently purchased a house with my girlfriend in a comfortable neighborhood in Rockford, Illinois and was ready to settle down into familial bliss. Determined to eschew the habitation of local drinking establishments I, through use of logic and reason, arrived at the conclusion that the only thing to do was to create my own establishment.

The first Star and Dragon was nearing completion at the time I had to leave. The girlfriend had become a wife and was quickly becoming an ex-wife.  If anyone was going to leave it was going to be me, so I packed my bags loaded them into my VW van. The last thing I grabbed before I left was to take down the Star and Dragon sign (as seen above), and that is the only thing I have left from the original Star and Dragon.  I have visited a few times, but it is hard for me to see it in the state that it is now.

The experience I gained through my first experience with building a bar has influenced the process by which I am creating the next.  The first Star and Dragon was done with little forethought, things were built quickly and a plethora of mistakes were made. This time I intend to force myself to move slowly, to plan, and to show patience (this is the most difficult part of the process for me).

The second thing that is necessary in the new pub is portability. I live in a house in Carbondale, Illinois with my wife of five years, Jen. I am very happy and the D -word has nothing to do with the necessity of portability, rather the fault lies with the unpredictability of my career. I am not talking about being able to put it in a suitcase, but it must be able to come apart so I can load it into a semi, if needs be.

The great thing is I already have a sign.